


Innocence

by mansikka



Series: A Series Of Steps [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Making Out, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-05 06:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12185013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: “Would you stay?”





	Innocence

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) ***please see the series notes so you know what to expect*** x

“Would you stay?”

It’s been a week since their first date, and aside from a few snatched kisses and the briefest of smiles when they’ve been in joint company, Alec and Magnus have found little time to be alone. When he’d arrived in the loft less than ten minutes ago, Alec had realized that in all the time they’ve been getting to know each other, they haven’t even really hugged.  

They’ve fixed that though. The moment Alec had stepped through the door he’d fallen into Magnus’ arms, and the fact that they’re still stood in the same position with their arms wrapped around one another, possibly shows just how touch starved they both are. For each other, of course, since Alec’s rarely felt like he _needed_ to hug anyone else all that much—not like _this_ , anyway. But with Magnus’ arms looped around his waist, and his own draped around Magnus’ back, Alec has a sense of homecoming that’s both a little startling and a lot reassuring.

Magnus is still looking up at him hopefully, and Alec realizes he’s yet to answer him.

“I—”

“I’ll portal you back in the morning,” Magnus tells him, “no one need even know you’re gone,”

“Magnus—”

“I promise to be the perfect gentleman,” Magnus adds in a rush, swallowing awkwardly as though he’s embarrassed to even be asking, “I even have a spare toothbrush and… they’d probably be a little tight on you, but I have numerous things for you to sleep in,”

“Magnus,” Alec whispers, smiling, heart pounding with excitement as he reaches up to cup his cheek, “I’d love to,”

Magnus’ eyes grow startled as though he’s not sure he’s heard him right—is expecting rejection, and it makes Alec ache, leaving him wondering just how much self-doubt there is hiding behind that persona of his, that Alec's thought countless times might be a mask. Or how much he doubts Alec _wants_ to be with him, Alec adds to himself with a clench of his stomach, and it makes him sad, and want to do everything he can to put Magnus right about that.

“I’d love to,” he repeats, softer still, then leaning in and angling his face up, sealing their mouths together in a long overdue kiss.  

Magnus sighs against him, slumping a little, kissing back in equal relief. “I missed you,” he mumbles against Alec’s lips, and if that open vulnerability doesn’t make Alec ache for him all over again, wrap his arm around Magnus a little tighter.

“I missed you too,” he says, whispering it into the side of his hair as he hugs him again, convinced he might not get enough of doing that.

They pull back then, hands slotted together between them, and Alec can feel how hard he is smiling to match Magnus’ own. If Izzy and Jace could see him now, he thinks to himself with a laugh under his breath, then clears his mind of his siblings. The only thing he wants to think about tonight is Magnus.

“So, Alexander,” Magnus says, squeezing his hands, “if I’ve got you here to myself for the entire evening… what would you like us to do?”

Alec listens to all the possibilities Magnus is reeling off, of far off, exotic places, delicious-sounding restaurants, dazzling city lights, and he doesn’t want any of it. He lets him finish though, because a nervous, rambling Magnus is quite the sight.

“So?” Magnus asks, shuffling a little on the spot. “What do you think?”

“I think,” Alec replies, raising their hands and kissing over the knuckles of both of Magnus’, “I want this,” and then he tangles their fingers together and turns, leading Magnus over to the couch. He kicks off his shoes and moves them to one side, shrugs out of his jacket and throws it on an armchair, then takes Magnus’ hand again, and tugs until he knows to sit beside him.

“This?” Magnus repeats as he sits, sounding hopeful and apprehensive all at once.

“This,” Alec assures him, cupping Magnus’ face softly in his hands and leaning in to kiss him once again. And finally, Magnus seems to understand his intentions, relaxing into his touch and allowing himself to reach out, wrap his fingers around Alec’s waist.

Alec closes his eyes at the gesture and shuffles closer, daring himself to drop one of his hands to slide along the length of Magnus’ thigh, then gripping lightly around his waist. Magnus hums against him, moving a little closer himself.

The mold of Magnus’ lips against his own Alec thinks might be intoxicating. It’s all fairly chaste so far, but since he’s never so much as made out with anyone before—never kissed anyone like this who isn’t Magnus—the fact that Magnus is there with him and willingly kissing him back is a pretty heady feeling.  

Magnus is letting out these little pleased hums against his lips, that suggest to Alec he’s enjoying this just as much as he is. Alec’s had a few stumbling worries about Magnus not even wanting him like this because of his own lack of experience, but the way Magnus is pressing his fingers into him and seeming to shuffle ever closer tells him not to be concerned. So Alec shuts off all such thoughts and kisses him back a little harder, earning himself a louder hum.

There’s a tension in Magnus’ body then, and Alec braces, wondering what it might mean. But then he’s being pushed to sit back on the couch, and Magnus is throwing a leg over his thighs, hesitantly lowering himself to sit in Alec’s lap as his elbows hook over his shoulders to cross his hands loosely behind his head.

“Is this okay?” Magnus asks, and Alec has to swallow a couple of times before he can even think of answering. But then he has a better idea; pulling Magnus more flush against him and then delving in for a harder kiss.

Magnus moans against him, wriggling in a way that’s sending all sorts of interesting sparks of pleasure through Alec, giving him the courage to slot his hands up under Magnus’ shirt to press his fingers into his back.

“ _Oh_ …” is all Magnus manages to get out, and then he’s flicking his tongue against Alec’s lips, and Alec’s biting back a gasp, opening his mouth enough for him to dart inside. The slide of their tongues together punches even more noises out of him, that at first he fears Magnus will think foolish, or silly, but then gets a glimpse of the way his pupils are dilating, and realizes it’s the exact opposite. It encourages him to kiss back harder, pull Magnus in tighter, and make even more of those noises, that Magnus seems to be trying to swallow with every sweep of his tongue.  

Magnus pulls back suddenly, and Alec freezes for the second it takes him to drop his head into his neck, whimpering at the feel of lips pressing there, mouthing a path over his Deflect rune.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to get my mouth on this,” Magnus mumbles into his skin, licking and mouthing and kissing up the rune’s entire length. His words are incendiary, punching Alec’s breath out of him in desperate gasps, leaving him clawing to get Magnus even closer to him, and dropping his head back so he has more room.

Magnus nips at his pulse point, nuzzles under his chin, hums against his Adam’s Apple in appreciation. Alec ducks to chase his mouth, and their kiss becomes all teeth and tongue, with Alec’s heart racing so hard he’s sure Magnus can feel every pulse of it against his own chest.

“Alexander,” he says urgently, pulling back a fraction, and sweeping his thumb up over his cheek, “we’ll have to slow this down. Otherwise it will be… not impossible, but… difficult, to pull back,”

Alec thinks of how much he doesn’t _want_ them to stop, but also how much it’s probably a little too soon for things to escalate between them, indulges in one final squeeze of his hands around Magnus’ waist that draws them closer together, then nods in agreement and drops a kiss on his cheek.

“That isn’t to say, we need to stop altogether,” Magnus adds, and they’re rearranging themselves to lay out on the couch, with Alec’s head resting on a couple of pillows as Magnus slots between his legs. He looks down at the position they’re in and groans to himself for a second, and Alec’s sure when Magnus falls forward into his neck, he’s muttering instructions to himself to _stop_. And when he raises his head again, Magnus gives him a rueful smile, then brushes their lips together and nuzzles against his cheek.

“This is a much better way to be spending the evening than I had been planning before you called,” Magnus confesses, reaching up to push Alec’s hair away from his forehead.

“What were you gonna do?”  

Alec pictures all kinds of interesting things—things that might be interesting to Magnus, anyway. Dancing into the early hours on body-filled dancefloors. Spell casting with other warlocks as they discuss important Downworld concerns. A bar somewhere with a constant supply of martinis and so much company available to him, that Alec can’t imagine why Magnus would prefer to be here with him—not that he plans on giving him up to anyone else, of course; it’s just that his own world is so comparatively small.

Magnus clears his throat, shifting his position a little and fiddling with his ear cuff as his eyes dart elsewhere, and Alec smirks at the thought of Magnus being nervous or embarrassed about anything—but that’s exactly how he looks.

“Once every, oh, I don’t know; six months or so, I like to… I like to go through my closets and… take any clothes I haven’t worn in a while to a thrift store near here. I do a _lot_ of shopping,” Magnus adds, still looking away from him.  

“What’s a thrift store?” Alec asks, stroking his hands over his back in a way he hopes is comforting.

“Well,” Magnus replies, hesitating, “it’s a place for Mundanes. It’s usually things like clothes, or books, but sometimes even furniture. People donate things they no longer want, so other people can buy them,”

Alec thinks of wearing someone else’s clothes, then gets distracted by the idea of wearing _Magnus_ ’ clothes—or Magnus wearing his—and has to rein in his thoughts in case Magnus realizes how much he likes the idea; it would be fairly easy for him to tell considering where Magnus is laid, after all.

“It’s… the idea behind thrift stores is that… that people on lower incomes have… hopefully affordable things to buy,” Magnus continues, daring to look back at him, “though many people do enjoy what thrift stores have to offer generally, whatever their income,”

Alec thinks of Magnus donating his clothes to help Mundanes he’s never even met, and feels a surge of affection for him. Truly; Shadowhunters, with angel blood running through their veins, in his experience, are nowhere near as generous. The egotistical, selfish image that he’s been taught as the way of all Downworlders clearly needs a vast overhaul, Alec thinks to himself, raising a hand to cup the back of Magnus’ head to draw him into a kiss.  

“So you were gonna… stay here and… go through the things you don’t want anymore, to give them away?” Alec concludes, smiling up at him.

“With the excellent company of a glass of good red wine,” Magnus amends, grinning back, “I have to say, that this is much more preferable company,”

“I’m better company than wine?” Alec laughs, then harder still for the wriggle of protest Magnus gives that, actually, feels really, really good there between his legs. He tells himself to concentrate instead on the curve of Magnus’ smile.

“Infinitely,” Magnus declares, “though if you would like to join me in a glass…”

Alec thinks about moving. About having to shift from the firm press of Magnus against him, the weight of him on his chest, the delighted smile he’s beaming down at him, and decides he’s more than happy where he is.

“Maybe later,” he suggests, tilting his chin up to be kissed, smiling as Magnus hums against him, and together they snuggle down further in the couch.

* * *

They don’t have that glass of wine.  

They stay snuggled up together on the couch, turning so they’re laid pressed up together side by side. Whispering things to each other through laughs and smiles, with repeated kisses and fingers slotted beneath shirts until late in the night, with soft music as their soundtrack that Magnus waved a careless hand to start playing as an afterthought some hours ago.  

It’s a yawn from Alec that finally gets their attention to the time, with Magnus straining just enough to reach out for his phone on the coffee table to check, as Alec grips him around his waist so he doesn’t fall backward; Magnus’ eyes blown wide with surprise as he looks at the screen.

“You want to go to bed?” he asks, kissing it into Alec’s cheek and turning the phone for him to see. Alec does his best to hide a second yawn that’s threatening, but nods, relenting, pulling down Magnus’ shirt where he’s rucked it up.

Magnus stands with his typical grace, effortlessly pulling Alec to his feet as well. His arms are immediately around his waist, and there’s a look in his eye that says he’s half-waiting for Alec to tell him he’s changed his mind and say he’s going to leave.

Alec unslots Magnus’s hands from behind his waist, cups his face for a moment to kiss him, then slots their fingers together and smiles.  

“Lead the way,”

Alec stands in the bathroom, pulling at the hem of the t-shirt Magnus has lent him to sleep in, physically sees himself shiver in the mirror as he thinks of laying in bed next to him in nothing but that t-shirt and a pair of boxers. He picks up the toothbrush Magnus pressed into his hand and plucks it from the packaging, wondering if this is going to be _his_ for when he stays over—because he knows he’ll be staying over again.  

The very idea sends another jolt through him, and his mind takes him back to the conversation they’d had during their first date—about how _innocent_ he is. It makes him flush, because his thoughts of Magnus are nothing like innocent, and there’s so many things he wants to do with Magnus, that he’s spoilt for choice on where he’d like to start.

But Magnus seems determined to not rush him. He’s not making it obvious, he’s not specifically said the words out loud, but he is being careful with him. Checking what they’re doing with gentle touches, always looking him in the eye when he tries something new—even if it is all the _innocent_ things they’ve done so far.

Alec had thought he’d feel frustrated by such gestures, in fact it had been one of his biggest fears. But it doesn’t feel bad, or embarrassing, it feels… good. _Nice_ , even, to have someone so invested in thinking of him first and checking he’s doing okay. Alec’s not sure he’s ever had anyone go to quite this extent of care for him, though really, he has nothing to compare this to. He just knows that he _likes_ it, and is more than happy to follow Magnus’ lead—however he wants him to follow.

Not that he doesn’t _want_ more, of course, he smiles to himself before rinsing his mouth out and checking himself over in the mirror a final time.

Magnus is waiting at the foot of the bed for him, his fingers nervously twining together, and it takes Alec’s breath away again that Magnus might be nervous about anything—let alone _him_. Alec takes a long, lingering look up the length of him as he comes to a stop beside him, takes in the bared legs, the plain colored boxers, the t-shirt he’s slung on as he got changed, and smiles.  

“Normally, I wear pajamas, or… well, actually, often nothing at all,” Magnus amends, his eyes darting away, but dragging back immediately to drink Alec in as well. “But I thought I’d feel a little… overdressed—or undressed, considering what you’ll be wearing. Are wearing,”  

“Whatever’s comfortable,” Alec replies, but his brain’s got stuck on the idea of Magnus sleeping in this bed in front of them naked, and it’s in danger of shortening out.

“I… didn’t know which side you’d prefer to sleep on,” Magnus adds, still standing there nervously twitching the covers.

“Either,” Alec tells him, taking a step forward, “I don’t mind either,” and he’s closing the gap between them, taking in that nervousness close up, and it’s making his heart ache.

“Alec—”

Alec cuts him off with a kiss, hands cupping his face as he hums against him, stepping until they’re flush together, and smiling as he feels Magnus wrap his hands around his waist.  

“Let’s go to bed,” he whispers against his lips, feeling a surge of confidence, and his stomach giving a violent flutter for the way Magnus rapidly nods.  

They take a side, pull back the covers together and slide in, the decadence of satin against his skin compared with what he’s used to at the Institute a stark reminder to Alec of an entirely different world. And then before he can second-guess himself, or Magnus can worry, Alec’s rolling him on to his back and slotting between his thighs, humming at the feel of their bare legs tangling together—as well as other parts.

Magnus gasps beneath him, his legs parting instinctively as his hands sweep up in arcs along his sides. And Alec copies the kisses Magnus had pressed into his neck earlier, ducking down and having to close his eyes at the noises Magnus makes the moment his lips are on his skin.  

Alec gives a tentative roll of his hips that leaves them both gasping a little, and Magnus’ fingers dig into his waist, his feet sliding against the sheets as he tries to roll back to meet him.

“Alec,” he calls out, his whole body tensing with what Alec assumes is being torn between wanting to hold back, and take more. So Alec silences him with a brutal kiss, flicking his tongue into Magnus’ mouth and rolling his hips again, his stomach jolting harder for the way Magnus writhes against him, his hands slipping beneath his borrowed t-shirt and sweeping up.  

But then Magnus is rolling them, pinning him to the bed with sheer strength—no sign of magic at all—and if that doesn’t make Alec groan at all the prospects of what that might mean.

Under Magnus’ guidance they rock together a little more, then he’s slowing their pace, mouthing along Alec’s neck, and humming there before claiming his lips again. And soon they’re back to that gentleness they’d had with each other out on the couch, turning on to their sides with sleepy smiles and softer kisses, until they’re pulling back with only hands gripped around each other’s waists.

Alec yawns again, hearing it come out sleepy and content, and the sweet look Magnus is giving him just makes him want to snuggle closer and close his eyes.  

“You’ll be here in the morning,” Magnus says, the statement still coming out as a question no matter how hard he tries to disguise it.  

Alec leans in for another kiss and drops their foreheads together, nodding there. “I will,”

Magnus sighs against him, and the relief Alec hears has him wanting to chase away all of Magnus’ demons, sending harsh words and hateful thoughts out into the air for anyone who’s ever made Magnus doubt. Without thinking, Alec presses his hands into Magnus’ sides, rolling him over until his back is to him, then dragging him back until he’s against his chest, tucking his knees in behind Magnus’ and spreading his hand wide on his stomach. Figures out what to do with his other arm.

Magnus hesitates for a few seconds, then allows himself to relax, wriggling back a little to get comfortable, and sighing once he’s settled.  

“Goodnight, Shadowhunter,” he says, and the tease in his voice has Alec snorting into his hair. But then he’s raising his head just enough to mouth over the side of his neck, smiling there as Magnus shivers, then pressing a final kiss to his hair before whispering his own _goodnight_.

* * *

 

 


End file.
